EU business lobby dismisses China’s latest opening pledge

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at the opening ceremony of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, China, 05 November 2018. The country announced it will import more from third countries. [EPA-EFE/Stringer]

The EU business lobby in China has dismissed President Xi Jinping’s latest market-opening pledge as a rehash of earlier unkept promises, saying European companies had become “desensitised” to Chinese vows.

Xi vowed at the opening of a new import fair in Shanghai on Monday (5 November) that China had a “sincere commitment” to lower tariffs, broaden market access and import more from overseas, despite foreign accusations that it was dragging its feet or backsliding on those promises.

While Xi said China would accelerate opening of the education, telecommunications and cultural sectors, among others, and step up enforcement of intellectual property rights, his remarks largely echoed previous pledges.

“This constant repetition, without sufficient concrete measures or timelines being introduced, has left the European business community increasingly desensitised to these kinds of promises,” it said in a statement late Monday.

Chinese president Xi Jinping promised on Monday (5 November) to continue opening up his nation’s economy and to increase imports by fuelling citizens’ spending power, as a response to growing protectionism and unilateralism.

Expectations “continuously stoked”

The chamber said expectations for Xi’s speech opening the China International Import Expo had been “continuously stoked” by the Chinese government.

“With this in mind, European businesses think that the commitments made… do not go as far as is necessary.”

The chamber noted that Xi briefly mentioned removing caps on foreign investment in education and medical services, and support for accelerating negotiations on an EU-China investment agreement, calling them “potentially significant”.

“That said, European business had higher hopes for what had been marketed by the Chinese government as a milestone event,” chamber vice president Carlo D’Andrea said.

“What matters to us is that concrete actions are forthcoming and that reforms are clearly timetabled. If China really will continue to open up, we would have expected additional and specific commitments to have been announced by President Xi.”

The EU and China said on Friday (1 June) they would expand trade and investment cooperation amid the global trade dispute triggered by US tariffs. But as part of the efforts to address outstanding trade disputes, Europe will present a complaint before the World Trade Organisation against China’s intellectual property practices.

Beijing positions itself as a beacon of globalisation

Beijing has touted the week-long expo as a important signal of its willingness to open markets, as it grapples with Washington in a trade war in which both sides have imposed punitive tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods.

In a speech at Davos nearly two years ago, Xi presented China as a beacon of globalisation, in a counterpoint to Trump, but critics say he has yet to deliver on such promises.

The ongoing trade dispute is an instrument of cold economic warfare launched by the US to “contain” China, and it could lead to the fragmentation of the global economic and financial system, warned Alicia García-Herrero, a senior fellow at Bruegel think tank.